


why don't you take the chance?

by ameriboo



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: 1950s-1960s au, F/F, Friendship/Love, Idiots in Love, School Dance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:00:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29594541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ameriboo/pseuds/ameriboo
Summary: A beat and a posh.
Relationships: Hikari | Dawn/Nozomi | Zoey
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	why don't you take the chance?

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer: i do not own anything

_March 1960_

_Brooklyn, New York_

"I just do not believe they should be able to sell pornography in our grocers. The last thing we need is these kids running around stealing smut from the shelves next to the bubblegum."

Joanna swipes her tortoiseshell and pearl comb through her daughter's hair. A lit Lucky Strike menthol dangles from her coral-pink lips.

"Father Samson said Playboys will be used as kindling in Hell. I find that rather clever." A snicker. "Dawn, dear?"

Jolting her head up, Dawn stares at her mother's reflection in her French rococo-inspired vanity. They shared the same hair and same deep sky eyes. Admiring her mother was like staring into her future. Asinine as it seemed to want to be a spitting image of your mother to the other girls from school, Dawn found there could be worst things. Her mother was strong and committed to her values despite her virtuous upbringing. Joanna taught her daughter what she deemed valuable for a young girl growing up in New York, not just pageant and courtship protocol found in The Ladies' Book of Etiquette and Manual on Romance.

Her daughter, fiddling with her pearly nails, wasn't listening. Deep in thought, the teenager runs her tongue across her lips in nerves over tonight.

Joanna's pressed her lips into a thin line. "You don't want to go."

Dawn swallowed the lump in her throat. "Mom, I never said that—"

Her mother and her strong suspicions. "Our family follow through on our commitments."

Dawn's father was away on a retreat in the Hamptons _committed_ to supplying his secretary with endless Long Island Iced Teas.

"But if you don't want to go, speak now or forever hold your peace."

Straightening her posture as her mother pulled her hair back into a high updo, Dawn ripped the curlers out leaving ringlets to frame her heart-shaped face. Grabbing her Cremestick in Frosted Fool's Gold by Coty, Dawn reapplied her lip and bared her teeth in her reflection in an uneasy smile. The light in her eyes dim.

"No need to worry."

Joanna raised a single brow in question. "That so? When you tell me not to worry, that's when I worry the most." Her hands gripped her daughter's shoulders.

Dawn placed her hand over her mother's. "I know. Hairspray me?"

After inhaling a mixture of hairspray, Chanel Number 5, and talcum powder, Dawn is draped. Cinderella blue. Dawn's prom dress was Cinderella blue with a silk sash synched around the waist. She slipped on her satin She clipped on her pearl earrings and matching necklace.

"You wouldn't prefer my diamonds?"

Dawn didn't have the heart and he wasn't worth the diamonds.

There was a knock at the door exactly as the clock struck seven. Take a deep breath, Dawn tightened her fist, gave her mother a final kiss, and strutted down the stairs to the doorway. On the other side stood her date, jaw on the floor and speechless at the sight of her as she took her footsteps down her stoop. The evening air chilly that even her white fur stole barely sufficed.

Dawn smiled prettily because, despite it all, he is still one of her oldest and dearest friends. Green, peachy, and a solid funny man.

"Hi, Kenny."

Kenny, shaking in his olive suit, swallowed deeply and cracked a grin, his cheeks tinged with pink from the cold.

"Shall we, Dee Dee?" The young man offering her arm. She took it despite the eye roll at the pet name as he guided her to his car.

"I told you not to call me that."

. . .

The gymnasium transformed into an archaic Athenian forest covered in decorative trees and mushrooms. An enchanted forest full of endless flowers and hand-painted wooden fairy cutouts in every corner. Lavender and pink lanterns cascading down the ceiling. Tonight, their dance was Shakespeare's Midsummers Night's Dream and the kids of their school were fairy kingdom citizens but instead of watered-down red wine, the punch bowl was spiked with Smirnoff.

"You sure did some number in here," Kenny commented, adjusting his bowtie as they sauntered in eyeing the crowd of their fellow high school juniors cut a rug to Love is Strange by Mickey and Sylvia.

"The dance committee owes me for my ruined circle skirt. Can't get the paint out."

The boy, smitten, nervously looked down at his feet. "So, would you like to—"

"Dawn!"

Stopping dead in her tracks, Dawn whipped her head around to find Gary, with Drew, standing beside the large mushroom stools that doubled as extra seating. Her idea.

"I'll get us some punch," Kenny stuttered.

She was aware of Kenny's disappointment but allowed him to slip away. Luckily, Barry Johanssen was by the punchbowl adding an extra shot.

"Boys," Dawn sang, giving a twirl for her friends. "Don't we all look gorgeous?"

The boy's suits were similar. Drew in a navy-blue sport jacket and matching slacks. A red vest. Gary in a black two-buttoned suit with a white dress shirt and a deep blue tie.

"You're lovely, Dawny." Gary smiled, admiring her dress. "I was worried you were going to show up like a frosted cupcake."

Drew whistled. "Like that doozy from freshman year formal. Yellow and pink chiffon."

Dawn elbowed them both in the stomach. "I won the princess title in that dress."

"I remember how they almost put a crown on the celebration cake thinking it was you."

"Get bent, Oak!"

"Ah but ladies first—" Gary smirked as he often does when he is up to no good. He pulled out a leather-covered flask from his coat pocket.

Dawn's eyes sparkled as Drew's face fell.

"Gary, I barely ate dinner. I'll die."

"Well, I won't!" Dawn accepted Gary's offer, taking a swig as her friends blocked her in a short hurdle. Dawn's face twisted as the liquor hit her tongue. "Man, Misty is a bad influence on you."

His attempts at keeping cool couldn't cover the sincere look of smitten on his face. It's been a few months. Gary is private by nature but his heart practically leaps out of his chest anytime she even says his name. It's as obvious as the daytime sky is blue. "She's something," he chuckled, his knuckle swept under his nose.

Dawn handed it over to Drew. He hissed at the shot, wiping his grimace with his sleeve, and placed the flask in Gary's hand. "That's brutal."

Gary smirked and tilted his head back as he easily handled his shot.

The three of them hide along with the mushrooms with their all-seeing eyes. For a moment, it's just them, likeminded princes and a princess always held to standards by their adoring classmates. They understood their place in their school and how dreadfully dull it is to be seen as above the common man. Dawn sees no difference between herself and the next person.

She curses, she dreams, she spits, and she—

_Blazing eyes and wisps of red hair laced between her fingers._

loves.

Dawn's chest tightens at the thought of her. Swallowing the lump lodged in her throat, she turned to Gary. "And your girl, lover boy?"

"Powdering her nose with Mendoza."

Dawn's blue belle eyes shine into dangerous slits as she made eye contact with a nervous Drew. "Mendoza?"

The boy hid his blushed face into her hand. "She's wearing red," he sighed hopelessly. "I swear red was invented for her."

Gary hissed. "Drew, you are in deep."

"That's rich coming from you, Gare."

Gary shrugged his shoulders. "At least I did something about it!"

Dawn wrapped her arm around Drew's wearing a proud smile. "They came together, didn't they? Give the boy some credit."

"Help me God."

Suddenly, a whiff of amber and roses brings Dawn to notice the presence of May Mendoza and Misty Williams, her dear friends' dates.

May was a vision of fire in her form-fitting crimson silk dress and a single rose in her chestnut hair. Misty, wearing a tea-length off-the-shoulder black cocktail dress, looked as dangerous as a night in downtown New York. Their red and blue corsages covering their tattoos on their wrists. Dawn mostly sees them sporting their jackets and denim and often forgets that as much as they were delinquents, Misty and May were also schoolgirls that deserved to have a night of fun.

"Girls," Dawn sighed, "you truly are wasting your time with these pea brains. You're stunning."

"I resent that!"

"Some friend you are, cupcake."

May giggled and grabbed Dawn's hand. "You're an angel, Dawn."

Misty was blushing. "Don't go gassing me up, Lee. I might just steal you away from your date for a dance."

"Please do," Dawn confessed. "Kenny can't dance for shit."

"Neither can Gary."

"Baby, I have my looks. Who needs to dance when you got this face?" He gestured to his mug, smiling prettily as his girlfriend squished his cheeks between her fingers.

Dawn peeped as Drew carefully reached for May's hand, his shoulders straight and back tall. "Speaking of dancing," his voice only slightly uneasy, "How 'bout it, May? Don't want Ketchum and Beaumont over there taking up the entire dancefloor."

In the middle of the dancefloor, there they were, Ash Ketchum and his date Serena Beaumont, leading the crowd into the stroll. Ash looked like a mess with his unruly hair and his jacket thrown to the side, a mustard tie barely on his neck. His date was the opposite. Serena, prim and proper, in a heart-shaped golden gown. Only someone as fun-loving as Ash used his charm to let everyone around him forget that despite his softness the boy was very much the active leader of the Twerps. Dawn, Ash's lab partner, has seen blood on his t-shirt on more than one occasion. They considered each other good people and easily formed a friendship.

Ash looked up and noticed the group of them staring. "Come on!" He shouted from across the floor.

Drew and May take their cue, hand in hand. Misty looked over her shoulder as she took a step forward. "Gary?"

He blinked, turning to Dawn. "You'll be okay? We can wait here, or I can get—"

Dawn shook her head. "Don't worry! I'll join you in a bit."

Gary nodded, taking Misty's hand as she pulled him to the dancefloor.

Dawn did wish her left his flask with her though. It was almost a matter of time before her date returned with some punch and his nervous energy, something she had to admit she didn't want to be on the other end of. Especially if Kenny dared to confess his feelings for her. He has never said it out loud, but Dawn knew. It was in the way Kenny glared at the boys around her, how he would buy her a banana split at the soda shop anytime they both happened to be there, and the way he has been loyally pulling on her ponytail since they were five. She thought it was just a puppy crush. It hurt her to know eventually, she would have to break his heart, but it was hard enough that she understood how it felt to love someone unattainable.

The music shifted.

_You're just good to be true,_

_Can't take my eyes off of you._

Slowly, the teenagers paired up and began to follow the rhythm of the softer number. Hands placed on the smalls of backs, foreheads touching, and feet accidentally stepping on other feet with little care. They all looked so happy.

Dawn wished she were with her. Red hair chopped by dull scissors, coffee dashed with cheap bourbon, and a long-oversized sweatshirt. Dawn hasn't seen her in two weeks. She never comes to school if it's not for a performance or drama club.

She never sticks around. Dawn's heart was being carried by a teenage girl of solitude.

"DeeDee?"

She looked up. Kenny standing there, eyebrows knitted together, a sad strange smile on his face. "Punch?"

Simultaneously, they looked down at the cup held in Kenny's shaking hands. Dawn took it eagerly and downed the fruity concoction and ended up smudging her lipstick. The tinge of vodka stinging the base of her tongue.

"Would you like to dance?"

She stared at him long and hard as guilt twisted her insides.

Dancing with Kenny would feel like a lie she decided.

"No, Kenny."

"We can stay here then. Or um, go to our table?" He was trying. He was really trying.

"Kenny, you know I don't like it when you call me Dee Dee but you do it anyway. Why?"

A short laugh. "I know but you've always been Dee Dee to me. Since we were little kids."

She blinked at him. _Since you loved me since we were little kids_ , she corrected him internally.

"I'm sorry but it feels special ya know? Only I really call you Dee Dee and all."

She doesn't pick it apart. A silence held between them.

"Dawn," he said her name for the first time in a long time, "you don't have to force anything for my sake. I know your heart wasn't in it in the first place but the fact you even said yes…it would've been dumb on my part to not follow through."

"You're my friend, Kenny. I never wanted to hurt you. You're swell and all but—"

"But I'm not her." He finished, still wearing that sad sweet smile.

Tears began to water as Dawn tried to find the words. "Oh, Kenny…"

"If anyone asks, I'll say I bored you to death with Superman trivia and you needed some fresh air."

Teary-eyed, she sent him an amused look. "I don't mind Superman trivia."

"You do when it's coming from me."

A deep breath. "Thank you, Ken." She wiped a tear away.

Dawn ran through the gymnasium sidelines, under the twinkling fairy lights, and escaped past the iron doors. She doesn't look back as she crossed a maze of hallways before making it outside the building.

The spring night sent a shiver down her spine. Tiny clouds of mist escaping from her lips. Head spinning, Dawn looked up towards the sky. Recalling, the subway stops she was familiar with. Caffe Reggio in Greenwich was one of her favorite spots. They split a cappuccino as she heard her heart recite poetry from a coffee-stained napkin. Dawn listened to her sing about how calmness mattered as much as madness, a broken heart is worth eventual repairment by tender fingers stitching. Then a poem of how a potion didn't compare to real love between kindred spirits.

"I think Helena and Hermia were the real lovers," she told Dawn.

"Rewriting Shakespeare?"

A dreamy look in her crimson eyes. Their hands intertwined, a sensation as warm as the Arizona sun. "I'm just saying. Best friends turned rivals because of shallow men and perfectly fucked with by outside magical forces. _So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart,_ he wrote."

Dawn felt her insides soften at the drop of her crush's voice.

"Above all, Helena and Hermia were trusted friends. Great loves have been made with less and the course of true love never did run smooth."

Dawn went home that night, cradled her satin pillow against her chest, and got lost in the thoughts of Helena and Hermia running away from Athens into the unknown.

But Dawn was outside by the brick walls of her high school, feeling lost with blisters starting to form. She could make it to Greenwich if she tried, she told herself as she counted the money in her coin purse. Under the streetlight, Dawn paced back and forth, trying to decide whether she should ditch her shoes and run.

Just as she was about to make a run for it a hand grazed her back.

"Dawn—"

The breath caught in her throat. Rapidly, she turned to find her.

Zoey was a single flame burning in the night. Her edges were soft under the white light and moon's glow. And Dawn? Dawn felt akin to a moth. Wide eyes trailed the girl.

Hands in her black peacoat, Zoey walked forward, the look in her warm eyes knocking the wind out of Dawn's chest. "You really shouldn't be out here like this. It's cold."

"You said you wouldn't come," Dawn deflected, folding her arms over her chest, and fought herself over the impulse to rush into Zoey and pull her into her.

"I did."

"Then why are you here?"

Zoey smiled her all-knowing, languid smile. "For you."

"Well," Dawn began, "not in the way that I wanted."

They stare at each other. Two young women always so sure of themselves and what they wanted. Dedicated to their dreams and their art. The world saw Dawn and Zoey as complete opposites.

All-girls college graduate Dawn Lee with her pearls and sense of confidence sending a message to the world. And Zoey aligned with the beat generation with their dedication to free-thinking and dope.

Zoey was the best of the beats they knew. She didn't conform to even their ideals—she took what she admired and made it her own. Dawn respected her for it. Her ability to speak her mind no matter what.

She just didn't understand why Zoey was always brave enough to speak on stage or recite her life's message but she couldn't be her date to her dance.

Zoey's attention towards the ground then back up at Dawn. "I'm sorry I let you down."

"You didn't let me down. I just don't understand why it couldn't have been different." Dawn's lips curled into an understanding but sad smile. "You can tell me if you're unsure about us."

Zoey stiffened. "I wasn't ready for a school dance, Dawn. School is so different for you and me but knowing you put so much effort and time into it….it looks really beautiful in there."

She blinked. "You saw?"

"I told you. I went looking for you."

Hardness left her features as Dawn just stared at Zoey with enough warmth that rivaled the evening sun. "Zoey, tell me," she whispered, reaching for Zoey's hand and wrapping it in hers, fingers laced together, "do you care about me?"

The redhead broke into a smile. "Immensely."

Dawn didn't know that her name was written in dark ink under each line in Zoey's journal. Sometimes in tiny cursive on the edge of the page, sometimes in bold letters taking up five lines at a time. It depends on if she raised sweetness or madness in Zoey.

"And I care about you." Dawn's lashes fluttered as she tossed Zoey a doe-eyed look. Deep eyes like stars of twilight. "Do you think I'm pretty?" She asked, her voice holding a teasing edge.

A soft sigh escaped her lips. "I think you're beautiful."

Dawn turned a rosy pink. "And you bring me to my knees every time I even look at you."

The light above them flickered.

"Then to Hell with the rest," Dawn whispered sweetly, their foreheads touching.

Zoey lifted Dawn's face towards her, dipping her mouth against hers in a chaste kiss. "I never meant to hurt you. I think I was scared."

"You don't have to hide that from me. I get scared too."

The redhead snorted. "That'll be the day. What do you even get scared about?"

"The thought of losing you." Words like that could leave a girl breathless.

Her girlfriend blinked. "You're just trying to make me blush." Her face was ablaze.

"Maybe just a little," she replied, sticking out her tongue.

"I'm sorry for hurting you," Zoey interjected, her voice apologetic. "I should know better than to run away from you."

"If you run, I run." Dawn's finger glided down Zoey's jaw. "Make it up to me?"

Within seconds, Dawn was being dragged back towards the school, her heart racing. The girls ran through the hallways, laughing and fumbling in the dark. Finally, when they reached through the gymnasium, Dawn kicked the doors down. They enter as a soft song began to play. Couples stepped to the floor, wrapping their arms together.

A gentle melody.

_Slow dance with you_

_I just wanna slow dance with you_

_I know all the other boys are tough_

_And smooth, and I got the blues_

Zoey offered her hand. Dawn's insides swelled as their palms touched. They found themselves in the middle of the dancefloor under a beam of purple light. Dawn slipped her arm around Zoey's waist as she wrapped her arms around Dawn's neck. Guitar strings strummed as they held on to each other.

_I wanna slow dance with you_

Cheek to cheek, they let themselves feel the music and ignore the world.

_I wanna slow dance with you._

**Author's Note:**

> i love love and i love appeal


End file.
